And they say that one cannot teach on old dog new tricks! Well, this old B has learned more new tricks in the last two months than she ever dreamed possible. I've had a love hate relationship with computers from my first encounter with them in 1984. Five personal computers and four library systems later, I am still willing to be wooed and wowed. The early encounters were primitive by today's standards, but with all the inherent potential that is now being realised - and we are only at the start of this particular revolution. What its effect on our lives and the future of mankind may be, makes me want to live forever just to see the outcomes. It would appear that the sky indeed may be limitless.
And thus, despite my many misgivings about standards, information overload, security, censorship, and the advent of cybercrime, I am hooked for no other reason than the Web provides instant access to the wit and wisdom of the world with more tantalising ideas from the past and the present to keep me happily occupied for the rest of my life.
After a lifetime spent reading and pondering on the amazing world in which we live, I can now range even further in my search for miracles and meaning, watching and listening and reading and discussing ideas with others who are also still determined to regain paradise. The most exciting thing for me is to be able to delve into other cultures around the world to confirm my conviction that we all share the same core values that underpin civilized societies, and that where we stray from what we inherently know to be the right thing to do we reap what we have sown with sorrow.
Now we have a golden opportunity to learn from each other, get to understand each other and hopefully work together within our different cultures to protect the sanctity of all life on the planet.
And so into the future - with apologies to The Bard - "Lay on, Bill Gates and Microsoft, And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'"
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